Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Via Techdirt - maybe telecommuting just isn’t meant to be. My thought: it’s one of those Tipping Point things. One day it’s (seemingly) not there - the next day, it’s everywhere.

My last “real job” several years ago was with a telecommuting/telework start-up. We pushed. We pulled. We shouted at the top of our lungs. And, we had some success. The technology existed. People liked the idea. We provided value add service. And, we had several big name partners and clients. However, the human factors kept getting in the way of our tipping point. Some people simply cannot “work” at home. Some just don’t want to. And, many companies still get very nervous if they can’t actually see their people. Somehow, if you’re at your desk, it’s assumed you’re working (Of course, we all know better, don’t we? Internet Christmas shopping anyone?) Yet these days an ever-growing number of us are telecommuting (although we may not call it that.)

Even if you’re not a full-time “home worker” - I’d bet that you routinely do things from home like participate in conference calls, read your office email, post on the company extranet, and google potential customers. But, if somebody asked if you telecommute (or telework), you’d automatically say “No.” And yet, there you are - talking or typing away while your family is eating dinner. And, the home office is routine in decorating magazines and model homes.

So, the good news is the line has already blurred so much between work and home, we can get more done. The bad news is - um - it’s blurred and we can get more done.

As with anything else, key is quality as well as - in home work - that abused/overused life coach buzzword “balance.” However, balance is highly subjective. If you (and your significant other/family) are happy and unstressed - you’re well balanced (regardless of what the coach is trying to sell you.)

So in telecommuting/telework - some things to keep in mind, from both a personal and business perspective:
* Throwing yet more technology on top of stress isn’t going to relieve the stress - it’ll just compound it. (”Oh MY GOD, I lost my PDA!”) Ditto re throwing technology at an employee productivity problem, marketing issue or sales challenge.
* If the fundamental customer service process is broken before the service web site - it’ll be even more broken after.
* Being available “all the time” means we won’t always be at the top of our game or able to properly focus on the question/issue/request. (And almost no cell call is so important you need to talk and drive at the same time.)

Last but certainly not least - keep abreast of new technology options and enhancements. Sure, you don’t want to be a compulsive tech addict but new ways to be more productive (and less stressed, if you implement properly) are coming along daily. For example, check out Mozilla’s FireFox browser and Thunderbird email I’ve had the browser for a while - much better than IE (including far less prone to viruses and such). The email is also free, has great features and is absolutely painless to install - I just did it in about five minutes, including download. And, it gets you out of the Microstuff email jungle.